POLITICAL ECONOMY 404-01. DEMOCRACY AND FREE SPEECH
Professor Jonathan Riley FALL SESSION 2006 TILTON HALL 307
Thursdays 3.30 - 6pm
I. Course Description The course is concerned in general with questions of freedom of expression in the context of advanced democracies. We will concentrate on the particular case of the United States, framing our questions in terms of the First Amendment to the federal Constitution. Here are some of the questions relevant to the course: Is freedom of political (as opposed to non-political) expression what is really important in a democratic society? Or should we value free speech more broadly in terms of the promotion of individuality? Should we view it as crucial for dissenting against social injustices embodied in majoritarian customs and habits? What are reasonable exceptions to a general policy of free speech? Should free speech be subjected to special restrictions in times of war, for instance, such the current AWar on Terror?@ More generally, is there a conflict between free speech and national security? Should freedom of expression include freedom of "hate speech" and freedom to publish pornographic materials? Does freedom of expression include freedom of dress, of sexual lifestyle, and of the way we present ourselves in public? Is there a conflict between freedom of expression and respect for privacy in some sense? What about the freedom of the press and broadcast media? Do these institutions deserve special constitutional protection because they are in effect a "fourth branch" of government which helps to check and balance the other three branches and maintain a degree of separation of powers? Does private ownership of the press and broadcast media pose a serious threat to democratic deliberation? Should citizens have rights of access to the media? Do we need to restrict corporate expenditures that are intended to help elect particular political candidates or influence public debate over some issue? Should the Hollywood movie industry be treated just like the press and broadcasters? Should speech on the Internet be free from all government regulation? How has the Supreme Court of the United States approached such questions in its interpretation of the First Amendment? Is there a conflict between democratic deliberation and the First Amendment as interpreted by the Court? We shall be considering at least some of these questions in this class.
II. Required Texts
The SEVEN (7) required texts for this course are:
1. Randall P. Bezanson, Speech Stories: How Free Can Speech Be? (New York University Press, 1998). isbn 0814713211
2. Randall P. Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be? (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2003). isbn 025202866X
3. Louise I. Gerdes, The Patriot Act (Greenhaven Press, Opposing Viewpoints Series, 2005). isbn 0737730986
4. Laurence Lessig, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World (Vintage Books, 2002). isbn 0375726446
5. John Stuart Mill, >On Liberty' [1859], in David Bromwich and George Kateb, eds., On Liberty: John Stuart Mill (Yale University Press, 2003). isbn 0300096100
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6. Stephen J. Schulhofer, Rethinking the Patriot Act: Ideas for Reform (Century Foundation, 2005. isbn 0870784951
7. Cass R. Sunstein, Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech (Free Press, 1995) isbn 0028740009
Additional required readings will be handed out in class at least one week prior to our discussion of them. These readings are starred ** in the attached syllabus.
We will be studying some key Supreme Court decisions relating to free speech. Court decisions can be downloaded from a number of Websites, for example, www.findlaw.com or www.supremecourtus.gov Other useful Websites relating to free speech issues include the ACLU site www.aclu.org, the Electronic Privacy Information Center site www.epic.org, and www.rozenberg.net (relating to issues of privacy and the press, esp. in Britain).
III. Course Requirements
1. You are expected to attend and participate in the seminar, which meets only once a week, regularly. If you miss two classes without medical excuse, you will be put on notice. If you miss three classes, you will receive a second notice and be dismissed from the course. Class participation includes occasionally posting/answering questions online, at the Blackboard website for our course under the Discussion Board (see 2 below).
2. Students must prepare a typed double-spaced report (1500-2000 words) critically discussing either a required reading or an optional additional reading listed on the syllabus. Students are free to choose any one of these readings for the report. The report must be posted on the Blackboard Discussion Board and handed in to the professor before the relevant readings are due to be discussed in class. For example, if the required reading is listed under a class scheduled for November 2, the report is due by that November 2 class. In your critical discussion, you may refer to supplementary readings, including books, articles, and U.S. Supreme Court decisions as well as judgments of the constitutional courts of other countries. Your report is worth 30% of your final grade. Other students are encouraged to post online questions relating to your report, and you are encouraged to try to answer their questions. If you ask me, I will also give you my views concerning your discussions.3.You must also complete EITHER one of the following:
A final exam in class on Tuesday, December 12, from 1‑4pm;
OR
A research essay of at least 7500 words on a topic to be chosen in consultation with the professor by Thursday, November 2 at the very latest. A good place to start when looking for topics is with the course texts, suggested additional readings, and the many references cited therein. You should plan to spend at least a month on your paper and to organize your arguments in terms of at least two books other than the required texts for the course. The essay is due in the last class of December 7.
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The final exam or the research essay, whichever you choose to do, is worth the remaining 70% of your final grade. If you decide to take the final exam, be sure to check your schedule for possible conflicts of exam times. It is your responsibility to make special arrangements if you have a conflict.Please do not even ask to be excused from any of these course requirements without evidence of serious illness (a note signed by your doctor). Colds, 'flus, your brother's wedding, your preferred dates of air travel, and the like do not count as "serious illnesses!"
IV. Office Hours
Thursdays 2-3.30pm in the Murphy Institute, Tilton Hall 108, or otherwise by special appointment (please see me in class or contact me by email at to set up an appointment).
V. SYLLABUS
Our first class discussion will include a review of the attached syllabus. Needless to add, the pacing of class discussions is approximate and subject to change, on notice in class. Our class discussions are unlikely to cover everything in the required readings.
August 31. No class. Professor Riley is at the APSA conference in Philadelphia.
September 7. No class. Professor Riley is lecturing this week in Yokohama & Osaka, Japan.
September 14. Introduction and Review of this syllabus
Note: This class will include an introduction to legal terminology and how to read court opinions.
September 21. Burning the Flag
Required Readings: Bezanson, Speech Stories, Story 7, pp. 187-205. See also the following Supreme Court decisions: U.S. v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968); Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989); and U.S. v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990).
Suggested Additional Readings (optional): R.J. Goldstein, Flag Burning and Free Speech: The Case of Texas v,. Johnson (University Press of Kansas, 2000); and Michael Welch, Flag Burning: Moral Panic and the Criminalization of Protest (Aldine, 2000).
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September 28 & October 5. Mill's Classic Liberal Doctrine of Free Speech Required Readings: Mill, On Liberty; including critical essays by Fiss, Posner and Waldron in the Bromwich & Kateb text, pp. 179-207, 224-45; and **Riley, AMill=s Doctrine of Free Speech,@ Utilitas (2005).
Suggested Additional Readings (optional): J. Riley, Mill: On Liberty (Routledge, Philosophy Guidebook, 1998).
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October 12. Free Speech in America: A Classic Liberal Ideology? Required Readings: Sunstein, Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech, Chaps. 1-5, 8; **Frederick Schauer, "The First Amendment as Ideology;" and **Willmoore Kendall, "The Open Society and Its Fallacies."
October 19 & 26. When Should Speech Be Restricted? National Security Concerns: The Case of the USA Patriot Act
Required Readings: Louise Gerdes, The Patriot Act; and Stephen J. Schulhofer, Rethinking the Patriot Act.
Online Guides to the USA Patriot Act: See, e.g., AThe USA Patriot Act,@ Electronic Privacy Information Center (July 29, 2004), at www.epic.org. ; and Dahlia Lithwick & Julia Turner, AA Guide to the Patriot Act B Parts 1-4,@ Slate, September 8-11, 2003, at www.slate.com. Also at the Slate site see Robert Poe, APatriot Games,@ March 8, 2005; and Jack Shafer, ABush or Keller? Who Do You Trust?@, July 8, 2006. See also the optional readings below.
Suggested Additional Readings (optional): Geoffrey R. Stone, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition of Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism (Norton, 2004); David Cole, Enemy Aliens (New Press, 2003); Stewart A. Baker & John Kavanagh, eds., Patriot Debates: Experts Debate the USA Patriot Act (American Bar Association, 2005); and a Complete Guide to the USA Patriot Act CD-ROM (Progressive Management Institute, 2006).
November 2. Freedom to Dissent
Required Readings: Bezanson, Speech Stories, Story 1, pp. 7-36; and Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be? Story 1, pp. 5-57. See also the Supreme Court decisions in Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) and New York Times Co. v. U.S. [The Pentagon Papers Case], 403 U.S. 713 (1971).
Suggested Additional Readings: Cass R. Sunstein, Why Societies Need Dissent (Harvard University Press, 2003); Bill Katovsky, Patriots Act: Voices of Dissent and the Risk of Speaking Out (Lyons Press, 2006); John Prados & Margaret Pratt Porter, eds., Inside the Pentagon Papers (University Press of Kansas, 2005, new edition); and Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (Penguin reprint, 2003).
November 9. Hate Speech
Required Readings: Bezanson, Speech Stories, Story 4, pp.93-113; and Sunstein, Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech, Chap. 6, pp. 167-208. See also the Supreme Court decisions in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992); and Virginia v. Black et al, (2003).
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Suggested Additional Readings: Philippa Strum, When the Nazis Came to Skokie (University Press of Kansas, 1999); and L.Wayne Sumner, The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits to Free Expression (University of Toronto Press, 2004).
November 16. Libel and Invasion of Privacy
Required Readings: Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be? Stories 3 & 4, 6 & 7, pp. 83- 128, 163-229. See also the Supreme Court decisions in Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton, 491 U.S. 657 (1989); Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., 433 U.S. 562 (1977); and Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001).
Suggested Additional Readings: Joshua Rozenberg, Privacy and the Press (Oxford University Press, 2005).
November 23. No class. Thanksgiving holiday.
November 30. The Corporate Threat to Free Speech
Required Readings: Bezanson, How Free Can the Press Be? Story 2, pp. 59-82; and Laurence Lessig, The Future of Ideas. See also the Supreme Court decision in Miami Herald v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241 (1974).
Suggested Additional Readings: Lawrence Soley, Censorship, Inc. The Corporate Threat to Free Speech in the US (Monthly Review Press, 2002); and Herbert Marcuse, "Repressive Tolerance," in R.P. Wolff et al, A Critique of Pure Tolerance (Beacon Press, 1969), pp. 81-123.
December 7. Review Class. Pizza will be served.
Note: If you are doing a research essay, it is due in this class.
NOTE: FINAL EXAM is in class on Tuesday, December 12, from 1‑4pm .
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